Based on empirical research conducted in Rio de Janeiro during the past few years, this article focuses on professionals considered as "potential winners", "potential losers" and "followers of alternative/ideological jobs in the process of integration" within the context of changes occurred in the production structure and in the labour market during recent years. Research has focused on different professional segments and their characteristics connected to: microelectronics and the new means of communication (potential winners); retired teachers and professionals who opted for voluntary resignation programs (potential losers); and teachers who are working and supplement their income with informal activities and persons dedicated to different alternative practices in the process of integration into the new capitalism age (body therapists, "fortune-tellers" and alternative food suppliers). The treatment given to the three groups altogether aims to provide a wider outlook of the processes that affected as well as their contradictions. The article also focuses on the new skill formation strategies adopted the midst of the fragmentary qualification processes during the past few years.
LABOUR MARKET; EMPLOYMENT QUALIFICATIONS; SOCIOLOGY OF LABOUR